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WASHINGTON (CNS) –- Pope Benedict XVI has named Msgr. Mikael Mouradian, who is superior of the Convent of Notre Dame in Bzommar, Lebanon, as the new bishop of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Nareg in New York for Armenian Catholics.

The appointment was announced May 21 in Washington by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bishop-designate Mouradian, who was born in Lebanon, succeeds Bishop Manuel Batakian, who is 81.

The New York-based eparchy serves about 25,000 Armenian Catholics in the United States and about 10,000 in Canada. The church has two parishes in Canada, in Toronto and Montreal, and seven in the United States — two in California and one each in Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts.